Great pictures until recently

I am from the Philippines. I too bought my Canon A70 after some months of extensive research. I had been happy with it until last month, when I took a trup to the US, for a vacation.

I pulled it out, expecting the same crisp, vibrant images I had always gotten. Instead, the very first picture I took was a fuzzy jumble of pruple, black, and white. Totally unrecognizable!

I noticed that I could review previously taken and saved images perfectly well. They were still clear. But every new shot I took was a mess! So I figured, it must be something to do with the lens or the sensor. I thought it might be condensation, due to the plane trip and the changes in climate.

After all the frustration, I noticed that, as I took more photos, the image started to clear up so it was now a purple distorted image, but I could identify the subject, by shape.

The last "aha" I had was that: if I shot the sun directly, especially with slightly extended exposures/wide apertures, the succeeding pictures would clear up, so colors were almost right, and proportions were not as distorted. However, once the camera is shut off and put on again, it's back to ugly square one.

I had been hoping that this problem was one of mold, which can be cleaned up. But, reading from all the reports, I am beginning to feel very uneasy.